Big performances by Brandon Roddewig and Diane Keller led the Wildcat track team in a sweep of Newport last Thursday, April 30.
The bevy of wins in Mount Si’s final home meet of the season sent a message about what lies ahead for the postseason.
The Wildcat boys won eight events, handling the Knights, 82-63. Roddewig, Cody Wise and Zac Pearlstein led the way with two event wins each. Roddewig won the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 3.25 inches, and also took the victory in the high jump, clearing six feet.
Pearlstein was solid in the track events. The junior passed Newport’s Neil Baunsgard to win the mile with a time of 4:41.4. Pearlstein also teamed with Wise, Brett Duncan and Collin Van Slyke to win the 4×400 relay in 3:43.8. Wise’s other event win was in the 400-meter race, narrowly beating Duncan with a time of 54.4 seconds.
Rounding out the winners for Mount Si were Kyle Stevens in the javelin with a throw of 189 feet, two inches, Zach Brevick at discus with a personal best throw of 151 feet, five inches, and Ryan Ransavage in the shot put with a 42 foot, three inch put.
“It’s just nice to come out here and have it all come together,” Brevick said.
Newport is a strong team, said Wildcat boys’ head coach Chris Jackson. The win was a good test for his team, going into what could be a big postseason.
“We have good competition in all events,” Jackson said. “That’s good for our kids, because that’s what they’ll see at league.”
The Mount Si girls were just as dominant, winning 82-68 in eight events. Keller took three, including the long jump, with a leap of 15 feet, 10.25 inches, beating out teammate Helen Hasbun in a top three sweep by the Wildcats.
Keller teamed with Helen and Hannah Hasbun and Sophie Rockow to bring home a win in the 4×100-meter relay in 51.8 seconds. Keller also won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.3 seconds. Hannah Hasbun beat out Keller, however, in the 300-meter hurdles, running it in 47.8 seconds.
The Hasbuns, Rockow and Natalie Opsvig eked out a win in the 4X200 meter relay in 1:47.4, outrunning their Newport opponents by just a tenth of a second.
Other event winners included Kelly Besmer in the javelin with a throw of 116 feet, 11 inches; Stephanie Burk in the high jump, tying with Newport’s Kristine Wong for the crown with a leap of four feet, 10 inches; and Alex Rudd, who easily took the 1600 meter race with a time of 5:34.4.
Wildcat athletes who didn’t win their events also had solid performances. Case in point was freshman Kendall Maddux, who finished second in the 3,200-meter, but got a season and personal best time of 12:41.7. The key to her success was was consistency.
“I was trying to pace myself really well,” Maddux said. “It really helped that I tried to pace with each and every person.”
“When you can beat a good team like Newport, who has a lot of depth and who has some stars, then it makes for a good day,” said Brian Peterman, Wildcat assistant coach.
“The kids are peaking at the right time,” he added. “It would help if we have weather like this again.”
